


Into the Night

by opalheart12



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Introspection, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 13:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10465965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalheart12/pseuds/opalheart12
Summary: Crane and Abbie are stuck inside Abbie's home during a snowstorm. He decides to finally confess his love to her.





	

He is in love with her.

He knows this earlier on and resigns himself to it.

He remembers how sick he felt when Katrina returned, how disappointed in himself he was when he attempted to bring life back to their very dead relationship, how utter relieved he had been when Katrina and Henry were dead, gone for good.

When he went away after Katrina’s death, it was mostly to figure out what kind of man he would be now that the very last tie to his old life was gone. He knew Abbie would be hurt but there was nothing for it. He needed to renew himself, understand himself, shape himself.

He isn’t surprised to learn when he returns that Abbie is now an FBI agent. She always was the best at her job and this is no different. He is, however, surprised that Daniel Reynolds is in love with her. This is what convinces him that time is of the essence when it comes to his Lieutenant.

He decides to confess how he feels on a cold, snowy Friday night. It is a blizzard that keeps him from leaving Abbie’s house to return to the cabin. The two of them are in the living room in front of the fireplace. The power went out shortly after they’d both showered and, luckily, Abbie had firewood in her garage.

“We don’t need to sleep on the floor, Crane.” Abbie says as she spreads the blankets and pillows down on the floor.

She is wearing a long sleeved shirt that reads ‘Tarrytown Polytechnical University’ on one sleeve and a large black and red tiger on the front, tights, and thick fluffy socks. Her hair is in halo braids and she’s tossed her silk headscarf down somewhere next to Crane’s legs.

“We must endeavor to stay as warm as possible, Lieutenant. It would not do to have us die from hypothermia.” He adjusts his pillow so that it isn’t far from the flames of the fireplace. It is not the warmth he desires but he must settle for it nonetheless.

Ten minutes later, they are both staring into the flames, allowing their thoughts to take them to places that are not the living room. Crane stares intently into the fire, counting to ten seventy times because he believes at the end of ten seconds he might have the courage to give voice to his feelings. He cannot find the courage so he keeps counting.

It is another ten minutes before he abruptly turns to face the Lieutenant. She blinks, casting a curious look his way. “Something you want to say, Crane?”

He thinks about rambling, considers bringing up their bond and what they mean to each other. But this is something he does not want to beat around the bush about. “We have known each other 3 years now, Lieutenant. We have been through much together, overcame many obstacles, and yet the only obstacle we cannot surpass appears to be ourselves. Would you agree?”

She appears more confused than anything, but he senses her nervousness in the way her hands suddenly tighten around each other in her lap and the way her breath hitches slightly. “Crane, what are you talking about?”

Somewhere inside, she knows precisely what he is talking about. She is afraid of what it means for them, but some part of her heart has been waiting for the moment he would attempt to break the walls around it.

He takes a deep breath, his eyes going to the flames for a moment before returning to hers. She sees a fierce determination that makes her mouth go dry. She knows what is coming next.

“Our hearts are uniquely intertwined, are they not?”

She nods wordlessly, her mouth hanging open only slightly. She feels her right hand squeeze repeatedly against her left.

“Ours is a unique relationship, to which I feel nothing else could hope to compare. There is...no one else in this world I would rather fight beside, come home to, dedicate myself to. You are _everything_ to me.” He reaches out and takes her hand, nearly groaning at the electricity that courses through him when he does.

Abbie feels the breath leave her body in a gasp and she looks down at their hands bound together as their souls are. “Crane...are you sure? How do I know this isn’t some kind of side effect of the bond?”

He smiles to himself fondly, as if recalling some happy memory. “My heart has been drawn to yours since the moment I laid eyes upon you. I crushed the feeling in my chest because I did not desire for either of us to be controlled by something we could not see. But as time has passed, as I have watched you grow strong and proud and beautiful, I have known my love for you as surely as I know my own name.”

She feels tears pool in her eyes as she knows that what he says is true. Her feelings match his precisely. But she was afraid. From the moment he left after Katrina’s death, she felt as if he’d abandoned her, as if he were just one more person to leave her behind. But then he came back and a part of her knew it must have been because he loved her. If she’d run away from Sleepy Hollow, duty bound or not, she did not think she would ever return. The world was much too big for that.

But he came back.

“I know,” she breathes out. “I’ve felt the same way for...God, I don’t even know now! You’ve been the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last when I go to sleep for so long now. I was afraid of loving anyone the way I…” She trails off, the tears falling down her face as she takes a deep, shaking breath.

Crane begins, pulling her slightly closer to him. “Abbie--”

“I’m _ready_ now, Crane. I’m ready for whatever _this_ is. I know that now.” She interrupts him, closing her eyes resolutely.

He nods, feeling his heart swell to the point of practically bursting. He pulls her into his arms, her lips connecting with his in one cosmically earth-shattering moment. She is everything and anything he could ever want or need.

The next hour races by in a tangle of skin meeting skin, connecting souls, fluid movements, breathless moans, and simply being. In these moments, there is no battle for good and evil, no Moloch, no Pandora, no Abraham.

Only them.

Always them.

Later, as the fire dims, they are a tangle of limbs as they relish in their newfound relationship, carrying each other off to sleep merrily into the night.


End file.
